comings and goings

This first part of 2016 has been fairly uneventful in our world, which is nice.  We've had work, and school, and back to the usual routines.  With a little bit of fun sprinkled in...

this guy is officially reading.  And I caught him up early one morning, reading to himself in bed.  LOVE it!

 My brother celebrated a bit of a milestone birthday the week after New Years, and darn it that his current timezone is 9 hours ahead of ours, and between his work day and ours we couldn't even connect via phone to wish him a happy day -- but instead we made ourselves a Moscow Mule in his honor, and sent him a text.  Modern day technology I tell ya.  Hope your day was marvelous Derek!

Eddy worked a weekend -- so we hung around the house a bit, Kaitlyn changed clothes 15 times in a 3 hour span, and then we took off for a bit of exercise.  

Queen of clothing 

hawk spotting with his new binocs 

 And the other day that weekend when Eddy was working, we visited my dad (mom was out of town) and took a bike ride near their house, just for a change of scenery.  St Mary's College is about 2 miles from my parents house, so we rode (I ran) up the trail to wander around the campus a bit.  It really is pretty.  

checking out the statue of Father De La Salle

Ryan the photog

As we were heading home from campus, we stopped at the fields to watch a game of rugby.  Man were those guys muddy!  But it was super fun to watch.  The kids found it rather hilarious.

We also finished our quest to watch The Return of the Jedi, carried over from our vacation week.  Ryan had received the Lego Star Wars book for Christmas from his North Carolina friends Aiden and Court, so he very enthusiastically followed along while we watched the movie.  It was so cute.  And he pretty much hasn't put the book down any other day either...

Eddy and I were granted the freedom (thanks a million times over to my parents for helping with the kids!) to hit the slopes on a weekday that we both had off work.  It was mostly sunny, the snow was perfect, and we didn't wait in one single line.  A perfect day.  

smiles from the top of Mt Lincoln chair at Sugarbowl

yet another costume change for the little miss.  I can't tell you enough how many times each day this happens.  Please tell me, oh friends that are moms of little girls...this phase will pass, right???  Please?  

And finally, this past weekend, it rained a lot.  And we didn't do much.  But we did manage to take a day trip down to San Jose and took the kids to the Kids Discovery Museum.  It was crowded, and not as great of a museum as others we have been to, but it definitely kept us entertained for a bit.  Once we hit overload point, we wandered outside and the kids had a great time hugging the huge elephant/mammoth and running in the open space, before we headed over to have dinner with some good friends who live nearby and we rarely see.  A great way to spend a rainy Sunday on a 3 day holiday weekend!

new year's day hike

A tradition that we started last year, and kept to this year, and I kind of like so I'm hoping we'll be able to make it happen in years to come as well....a New Years Day hike in Briones Park with my parents.  The weather held out, the hills were green, it was chilly!, and the kids were troopers.  And my parents had just landed the night before from Luxembourg where they had been for Christmas -- way to hike off the jet lag guys!  After our hike, we made it home to watch some football and take down the Christmas decorations.

Cheers to a wonderful 2016!

starting the climb, up the steep hill 

snacks at the top of the steep hill 

there were a few cattle gates we had to cross -- all of which had nice hooks you could open and swing the gate open easily, but why do that when you can climb over?  Right?  

the men hiking up ahead 

K and her outfit.  Seriously.  And her Pippi Longstocking doll, from Elena and hand delivered by Nanny

snow!

2 days after Christmas, we escaped to the mountains, and saw the most glorious scenery that we haven't seen in a few years.  Snow.  Lots of it.  Down to the lake.  It was incredible.  

We spent 4 days in Tahoe, just hanging out.  The minute we arrived, the kids demanded we put on our snow clothes and play.  So we did.  

the kids were awesome travelers -- this was our first stop, for lunch, about 15 mins from the cabin.  They didn't even have to stop and pee on the drive up! :) 

snow!

me taking pics of the kids in the snow.  ha.  

 We did a lot of sledding, right out the back door.  And Kaitlyn was at such a great age, for the first time she was happy walking by herself, didn't care about being cold, and once she learned she could eat it, she didn't stop.  She'd just fall face first in it, and lick away.  It was pretty funny.

K eating snow, and the boys sledding in the background. Love this pic. 

first tracks on the front deck 

This girl, and all her style.  She is REALLY into getting herself dressed these days.  And changing her clothes.  Again, and again, and again.  And there must always be a tutu, now more than ever before.  We turn our backs for a minute, and here she is, in her PJs (this is before we've even had dinner mind you) with a tutu over it of course.  Oh boy.  

So we borrowed the Star Wars box set of movies from our neighbor before this trip, and the first evening we all watched the original Star Wars (episode 4 I guess it's being called now).  We tried to put K to bed after the first few minutes, but she threw a total fit, and demanded she stay up with us.  And we all loved it actually.  No one was very scared, no one had nightmares, the violence is actually not near as violent at today's movies are, and it was kind of a fun family evening.  So we watched the Empire Strikes Back the next night.  And finally finished with Return of the Jedi well after coming home from the mountains -- needed a bit of a break.  Now we just need to get to the theater at some point for the new one.

ready for Star Wars

Ry did get a little scared watching Darth Vader and Luke duel it out in the Empire Strikes Back -- he hid behind the pillow for a 1/2 of a second, and then couldn't stand not watching it.  It was really cute.  

Day 2, it was gray, and cloudy, and then started snowing.  So we drove to another meadow that we know of, and hit the sledding hills.  We had a blast.  Eddy and I were wishing we brought our snowshoes actually, because the kids were happy being pulled in the sleds, so we did a little hiking through the snowy meadow too.  A lot of work that's for sure.  

Incoming!

mama daughter snow angels

"Hey Ry, why don't you stand right over there...."

he was laughing the entire time, I promise

Day 3, we had a plan, to get the kids on skis.  We made a good long drive to get to one of the resorts that we knew lets kids 6 and under ski free.  But by the time we got there, everyone else thought it was a good idea too, so we scrapped that idea.  Too crazy.  So we were kind of frustrated, and bummed out, but we regrouped, and over lunch decided we'd check out a tiny little resort we had never been to -- that only has a rope tow, and a small hill.  And it was perfect for the kids.  Cheap tickets, back breaking work to get them up the rope tow, and they had a blast.  Kaitlyn's first time on skis!  She immediately told me she wanted to "do it all by myself mama".  Well, I had to help her a bit.  But she loved it.  She made about 4 or 5 runs down, and then was tired.  Ry kept going, and is so ready for the big slopes.  Can't wait to get back up there!

the pics are so dark because we were in the shadows of the afternoon.  But it really was a nice day, promise!

 We shared the cabin our last night with some of the other cabin owners, and they brought out their giant stuffed lion for the kids to jump on.  It's always fun to have a giant stuffed lion around.

again, with the Pjs and tutu

one last romp in the snow, before packing up and heading home.